Natto soba and tamagoyaki at Yabu Soba. The 130-year old shop makes the buckwheat noodles from scratch in the first floor atelier. The soba had a rich texture. Loved it with grated mountain potato, natto, nori, shiso, and green onions. The tamagoyaki is made with cream. 🥰 Yabu Soba is near the boisterous Ameya Yokochō…
Month: May 2024
Coin Cafe
Chai at the peaceful Coin basement cafe. Excellent selection of breads at Bank bakery that can be brought to the cafe. This is in a quiet part of Nihonbashi Kabutochō near the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Will be a good place to work on a laptop or to do some writing. CoinChūō-ku, Nihonbashi Kabutochō 6-7
Milk Stand
Milk stand inside #Akihabara Station. Dozens of #milk options from producers throughout #Japan. Even flavored milks like coffee, strawberry, and vanilla. Some days my commute into the city goes through this station and it’s a fun ritual to take a break. Feeling the rush of passing commuters and the breeze from trains on the nearby…
Omiya Bonsai Art Museum
Fabulous afternoon at the Omiya Bonsai Museum. Located a short walk from Toro Station on the JR Utsunomiya line. From Tokyo Station it was only about 35 minutes. We were incredibly fortunate that our visit coincided with a 30-minute tour. Our guide, Harry Turton, from the UK, taught us so much about bonsai, how it’s…
Hajime Hanare
Hajime tonkatsu in #Nihonbashi. This is the hanare second shop. Excellent value for ¥1580 ($10). I added the ¥200 menchi katsu made with chopped bits of pork, which I recommend. There are three types of pork to choose from. Also a selection of donburi rice bowls.The kanji for Hajime is 一, which can also be…
Sanzou
Excellent Sedona curry at Sanzou Tokyo in Shimokitazawa. The red color comes from beets. Not too spicy. Guy near me kept wiping away his sweat from a different curry. Love the chilled chai offered at the end. Unexpected. A nice treat! Pickled cucumbers and onions to garnish. Tachigui, stand and eat, so it’s a quick…
Ballon d’Essai
Fluffy shaved ice over vanilla ice cream and coffee jelly. The soft shards are dressed with sweetened condensed milk and topped with an intense espresso. At Shimokitazawa Ballon d’Essai Latte Art. Only ¥850 ($5.50). Coffee jelly is my go to order at a new cafe. It was hot today and the kakigōri caught my eye….
Prime Sake
Delighted to finally meet @betsyandrews. We connected at Haneda Airport. No better place to chat than at the new @prime_sake #nihonshu bar at Terminal Three. Interesting concept, especially when you read the saké 🍶 menu. No mention of junmaishu or polishing terms like ginjō. Menu of saké-friendly small bites like smoked cheese and daikon pickles…
Azabudai Hills
The newer Azabudai Hills mall is filled with shops and restaurants. Sushi, tonkatsu, soba, cafes, and a supermarket. It’s hard to explore in one visit. So many tempting meals. Enjoyed a diavolo spicy pizza at Risto Pizza, the high end restaurant by chef Giuseppe Errichielli. I was told the more casual restaurant is at Napoli Sta…
Tamlapin
So excited to finally make it to Tamlapin @tamlapin_botan in Monzennakacho. A hipster bakery starting at 7:30 a.m. in the morning that turns into a cool bar in the afternoon after 3 p.m. The wines are all from Hokkaido. I enjoyed a fruity @chitosewinery Kerner with the plate of small bites and ten pieces of…
Shichiroca
Onigiri Shichiroca is a quiet sliver of a shop for onigiri. 🍙 Open for #japanesebreakfast from 7:30 a.m. 🥰 Only two seats if you’re interested in the morning set. Today the daily rice ball was tori soboro ground chicken in a sweet soy sauce. I added a simmered anago sea eel for the second #omusubi….
Sankouin
Shōjin ryōri, vegetarian Buddhist cuisine, has a rich history in the Japanese food culture. One of my favorite places to try it is at Sankouin temple in Koganei. The temple was founded in 1934 and is in a quiet residential part of Western Tokyo, north of Musashi Koganei Station on the Chūō line. There is…
Shikajika
Onigiri breakfast at Shikajika inside of Tachikawa Station. The rice is cooked in a donabe pot. The restaurant specializes in set meals based around rice including karaage fried chicken, grilled salmon, or simmered pork belly. There is an intriguing wagyū hitsuma bushi of thin slices of marbled wagyū beef over a bed of hot rice….
Yomoda Soba
Yomoda Soba is a casual stand-and-slurp soba shop with branches in Tokyo. A bowl of noodles topped with tempura is only about 620 yen ($4). There are a variety of tempura toppings including shrimp, squid, or julienned onions. What Yomoda Soba is also famous for is the Indian curry. A spicy curry with a small…
Food Sake Tokyo 